The intention is to introduce you to the people who have been carving their own path...with no care for what anybody thinks.

We try not to post things that are still for sale but sometimes post things that are not easily available. If you like what you hear, then find these people and tell them how great they are.

Better still, tell them and then seek out their new releases and buy them. We add links, when they are reliable and active, so that you can keep track if you so wish.

Always go straight to the artist or the label where possible. That way, the money goes straight to the people responsible for this art. These people rely on our support to keep going and make more quality releases!

Please feel free to leave comments as you go along...at least then we know you appreciate this stuff (or otherwise) and you're not just a bunch of freeloading file collectors.

If you made this music and we have pissed you off by posting any of this, please leave a comment in the post and the offending articles will be removed.

Optrum are Atsuhiro Ito and Yoichiro Shin. The former featured on a Hair Stylistics live thing I posted recently.

"Optrum is the fusion of Atsuhiro Ito's guitar-like playing of a modified fluorescent tube (the Optron) and Yoichiro Shin's years of experience as a highly technical drummer; they fittingly call their sound "optical noise core"."

Double CD on The Lotus Sound from 1997. Core members are John Olson, Dave Cross and Tim Poland. The latter two are also members of the Arthur Doyle Electro-Acoustic Ensemble. Here they are joined by a host of others in full on Free Improv Jazz Ensemble mode. Kinda like being inside the head of a very drunk Tom Waits (well, probably not...but...).

Mason is a legend...quite possibly AMT's gateway drug that got them across to America in the first place. If you are in any doubt as to the respect he is held in by AMT...check the number of "thanks to Mason Jones" comments in the small print of your AMT releases! Anyway...here's a little live thing with Mason and Kawabata:

"Second album by the psychedelic trip trad duo of Atsushi Tsuyama (Omoide Hatoba) and Makoto Kawabata (Musica Transonic). Chosen as the best album of 1998 by Hoppy Kamiyama (God Mountain) in Indies Magazine. Bizarre work overflowing with B-grade humor."

"Cult trip document by Father Moo and his handmaidens. Demonic scriptures of dubious eroticism and cultism, performed by the heretical guru Father Moo and his female disciples. Minimal acoustic works using just female chanting and drones."

"The return of the mysterious group that Makoto Kawabata led at the same time as his involvement with Toho Sara. The group were known for their unique practice of the Chinese concepts of yin/yang and the Five Elements in order to discover the shugen-on-a-sound that travel back to the universal source of all things. Is the enlightened rapture found in the depths of the ruins the ultimate psychedelia?"

First cdr released on the Acid Mothers Temple label as part of their "Gold Disc Series" editions.

"When we set up the Acid Mothers Temple label in January 1998, cdrs were still an unusual format. We didn't have the money to do conventional pressings of our music at the time, but this new format allowed us to set up the label and release whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. We thought that at most there would be only a hundred people in the world who would want to hear our music, which was why we decided to do releases in editions of 100. Recently we have started the NEW GOLD DISC SERIES, and the original GOLD DISC SERIES is now defunct." Little did the world (or AMT) realise what would be unleased upon the world!

"First collection of solo guitar works by Kawabata Makoto. Dazzling music for the temporal world, overflowing with a sense of pellucidity totally different from his work with Musica Transonic."

Kay Lawrence is the collaborative work of Cristiano Renzoni and Sam McKinlay. Again this is an LP released on Urashima...an edition of 99 from 2011.

Cristiano (aka Alo Girl) also runs Urashima. I can't think of a label that releases so much high quality noisework so consistently. The commitment is to vinyl. The commitment is to quality. Art and artifact! The rips of the vinyl do not do the label's work justice. Trust me ... I own a lot of it ...

You should already know that VWBH are Richard Ramirez and Sam McKinlay.

This is a 7" released as part of an ultra expensive subscription series from the stunningly effective Urashima label. There were only 20 copies of this for sale...weep at the limited opportunity to hold this.

Pop Culture Rape Victim (or you will find recordings as PCRV) is the work of Matt Taggart. During the intermission, I started pulling things off the shelves that I hadn't heard for a while. Time well spent.

Sam McKinley presents his fascination with stockings and Italian actress Laura Antonelli. A proclivity that I have some sympathy with.

"Recorded live using various mic'd styles of women's nylon stockings. Methodical dwelling on the different densities of the nylons via classic harsh noise instrumentation. Stockings, eye liner, eye shadow, and mascara - the abstraction and deconstruction of the female form."

Eight C30 tapes released in 2009 in a tiny edition of 49 copies on the (very recently deceased) Utmarken label.